WORD  IN  SEASON 


CANDIDATES   FOR    CONFIRMATION; 


BT 

y 

CHARLES  PETTIT  M'lLVAINE,  D.  D. 

BISHOP  OF  THE   PROTESTANT   EPISCOPAL  CHURCH  IN 
THE   DIOCESE  OF   OHIO. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
DANIELS    &    SMITH. 

1852. 


COLLINS,  PRINTERS, 


A  WOED  IN    SEASON 

TO 

CANDDATES  FOR  CONFIRMATION. 


When  a  serious  minded  person  has 
it  in  contemplation  to  offer  himself  to 
his  Pastor,  as  a  candidate  for  the  Rite 
of  Confirmation,  or  Laying  on  of  Hands, 
as  practised  in  the  Protestant  Epis- 
copal Church,  there  are  three  points  on 
which  he  may  feel  his  need  of  instruc- 
tion; namely,  the  Apostolical  Origin 
of  Confirmation  ;  its  Nature  and  Spiri- 
tual Signijication,  and  the  Qualifica- 
tions of  a  worthy  Receiver  thereof. 

On  these  three  points,  in  the  order  in 
which  they  are  here  stated,  the  author 

^3) 


4  BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

proposes  now  to  write.  And  lie  will  do 
so,  as  if  he  had  before  him  a  company 
of  persons  desirous  of  instruction  with 
a  view  to  the  presenting  themselves  for 
admission  to  the  ordinance  in  view. 
The  first  thing  to  be  attended  to  is — , 

I.  The  Apostolical  Origin  op 
Confirmation. 

For  the  better  understanding  of 
what  will  be  said  on  this  head,  observe 
that  the  ordinance  is  called,  in  our 
Prayer  Book,  by  two  names.  The  ser- 
vice for  its  administration  has  this  title. 
—  viz  :  "  The  Order  of  Confirmation, 
or  Laying  on  of  Ha7ids  upon  those  who 
are  baptized,"  &c.  The  more  modern 
name  of  the  two  is  Confirmation,  which 
comes  from  the  ordinance,  being,  on 
the  part  of  the  recipient,  a  ratification 


ON   CONFIRMATION.  5 

or  confirmation  of  his  baptismal  vows  ; 
and  from  its  being  also  accompanied 
with  prayer,  on  the  part  of  the  admin- 
istrator, for  the  increase  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  to  confirm  and  strengthen  the 
person  confirmed  in  all  grace,  until  he 
attain  eternal  life  in  heaven.  But  the 
earliest  name,  and  that  under  which  we 
read  of  it  in  the  Scriptures,  is  "  ilm 
laying  on  of  hands  ;^^  a  name  taken 
from  the  outward  gesture  by  which  the 
administrator,  who  lays  his  hands  on 
each  recipient,  with  solemn  prayer,  in- 
dicates that  the  latter  is  solemnly  con- 
secrated, or  set  apart,  to  the  service  of 
Grod,  and  that  for  him,  individually,  the 
sanctifying  influences  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
are  prayed  for  by  the  Church.  With 
this  introduction,  let  us  see  how  this 
laying  on  of  hands  originated. 


6  BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

Until  that  storm  of  persecution,  under 
which  Stephen  was  the  first  Martyr, 
had  burst  upon  the  Church  of  Christ, 
the  Apostles  had,  since  the  Ascension 
of  the  Lord,  confined  their  ministry  to 
Jerusalem  and  its  vicinity.  No  mes- 
senger of  the  gospel  seems  to  have  gone 
from  that  metropolis  of  Christianity,  to 
carry  the  terms  of  salvation  to  any 
village  in  Judea  or  Samaria.  But  now 
that  Saul  made  havoc  of  the  Church, 
and  the  Christian  disciples  "  were  all 
scattered  abroad,  except  the  Apostles  ;" 
the  heralds  of  glad  tidings  "  went  everj" 
where,  preaching  the  word."  Among 
them  was  Philip,  one  of  the  seven 
Deacons.  He  "  went  to  the  city  of 
Samaria,  and  preached  Christ  unto 
them.'*'  His  word  was  blessed  of  God. 
The   Samaritans   believed,   and  "  were 


ON  CONFIRMATION.  7 

baptized^  both  men  andwo?nen,"  When 
the  Apostles,  at  Jerusalem,  had  heard 
of  this,  they  sent  two  of  their  own  num- 
ber, Peter  and  John,  to  confirm  and 
carry  on  the  work  which  Philip  had  so 
auspiciously  commenced ;  who,  when 
they  had  reached  Samaria,  and  had 
prayed  for  the  baptized  believers,  "  laid 
their  hands  on  them  and  they  received 
the  Holy  Ghost." 

In  this  historical  notice,  taken  from 
the  8th  chapter  of  the  Acts  of  the  ^ 
Apostles,  we  learn,  that  in  the  very 
beginning  of  the  propagation  of  the 
Gospel,  by  the  Apostles,  they  layed 
tlwir  hands  on  tlwse  who  luid  'previously 
been  baptized. 

We  find  another  instance  of  the  same 
thing  in  the  19th  chapter  of  the  Acts, 
where   it   is  written    that  when   Paul 


8  BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

came  to  Ephesus,  lie  found  certain  dis- 
ciples to  whom  lie  said,  "  have  ye  re- 
ceived the  Holy  Ghost  since  ye  be- 
lieved ?"  These  disciples  had  received 
no  baptism  but  that  of  John  the  Baptist. 
On  hearing  Paul  speak  of  Christ,  (it  is 
written,)  "  they  were  baptized  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord  Jesus."  And  what 
followed  their  baptism?  The  laying 
on  of  hands.  The  next  verse  says, 
"  And  ivhen  Paul  had  laid  his  hands 
iqjon  them,  the  Holy  Ghost  came  on 
them,"  &c. 

Were  these  passages  unattended  by 
any  subsequent  portion  of  Scripture,  to 
indicate  that  the  "  laying  on  of  hands" 
upon  the  baptized  was  intended  to  be 
practised  generally  in  the  Church,  in 
subsequent,  as  well  as  Apostolic  times, 
nothing  very  material  perhaps  could  be 


ON  CONFIRMATION.  9 

inferred  from  them  in  regard  to   the 
duty  of  the  Universal  Church. 

But  we  are  not  left  without  a  more 
decisive  evidence  of  the  station  occupied 
by  it  in  the  primitive  Church,  nor  of 
that  which  it  was  intended  to  hold  in 
all  succeeding  times. 

In  the  sixth  chapter  of  the  Epist^ 
to  the  Hebrews,  first  and  second  verses,'^ 
we  have  an  enumeration  of  what  St. 
Paul  called  "  tJie  principles  of  the 
doctrine  of  Christ.^^  Among  these,  is 
the  rite  we  are  speaking  of.  The  pas- 
sage is  thus  :  "  Therefore  leaving  the 
'principles  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ,  let 
us  go  on  unto  perfection,  not  laying 
again  the  foundation  of  repentance  from 
dead  works,  and  of  faith  towards  God, 
of  the  doctrine  of  baptisms,  and  laying 
on  of  hands,  and  of  resurrection  of  the 


10  BISHOP   M'ILVAINE 

dead,  and  of  eternal  judgment."  Now 
what  St.  Paul  here  calls  "  principles 
of  the  doctrine  of  Christ,"  are  in  the 
proceeding  chapter,  called  "  the  first 
principles  of  the  oracles  of  God ;" — 
those  parts  in  which  men  were  usually 
and  properly  first  instructed  ; — the 
rudiments  of  Christianity,  as  the  letters 
of  the  alphabet  are  the  elements  of 
reading.  But  among  these  rudiments, 
we  find  not  only  repentance^  and  faith, 
and  tlw  resurrection,  and  the  judgment, 
but  we  find  baptisms,  also,  and  the  lay. 
ing  on  of  Jiands. 

But  what  was  that  "laying  on  of 
hands,"  of  which  the  Apostle  so  em- 
phatically speaks  1  Could  he  have  re- 
ferred to  that  practised  in  the  ordination 
of  ministers  ?  Certainly  not ;  for  ordina- 
tion being  confined  to  a  small  portion  of 


ON   CONFIRMATION. 

the  Church,  could  not  be  ranked  with 
baptism  and  repentance,  &c.,  as  a  first 
principle  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ.  For 
the  same  reason,  could  he  not  have  re- 
ferred to  the  imposition  of  hands  then 
used  in  the  healing  of  the  sick.  But 
these  are  the  only  applications  of  that 
outward  sign  recorded  in  the  New 
Testament,  as  connected  with  the  min- 
istry of  the  Apostles,  except  that  of 
which  we  are  speaking — the  "  laying  on 
of  hands,"  as  spoken  of  in  the  historical 
passages  before  quoted.  We  have  there- 
fore, no  alternative,  unless  we  suppose 
the  passage  in  Hebrews  to  be  unintel- 
ligible, but  to  conclude  that  it  was  that 
to  which  the  Apostle  there  referred. 
Now  let  it  be  distinctly  observed  that 
the  laying  on  of  hands  is  here  called  a 
"  first  principle,"  or,  a  rudiment  of,  the 


12  BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

doctrine  of  Christ ;  that  it  is  placed  in 
company  with  an  ordinance  and  with 
doctrines  so  elementary,  so  universal, 
so  certainly  intended  for  all  places  and 
all  ages  of  the  Church,  as  Baptism,  Re- 
pentance, Faith,  &c.;  that  in  the  order 
in  which  these  are  mentioned,  repent- 
ance and  faith  precede  baptism,  as  its 
essential  preparation,  and  baptism  pre- 
cedes the  "  laying  on  of  hands,"  as  if 
the  latter  were  then,  as  it  is  now,  the 
supplement  of  the  former  ;  that  in  this 
Apostolic  enumeration,  not  a  word  is 
said  to  indicate  that  any  difference  was 
intended,  in  point  of  permanence  and 
universality  in  the  Church,  between 
baptism  and  the  laying  on  of  hands,  but 
both  are  spoken  of  as  alike  elementary, 
and  are  ranked  alike  with  doctrines 
which  we  are  sure  must  continue   as 


ON    CONFIRMATION.  13 

long  as  the  sun  and  moon  endure. 
What  can  be  more  satisfactory  evidence 
that  "the  laying  on  of  hands"  was 
intended,  like  baptism,  for  the  Church 
in  all  ages,  and  among  all  people  ? 

It  is  of  no  force  to  object,  that  in  the 
case  of  the  Samaritan  converts,  this  im- 
position of  hands  was  accompanied  by 
the  conferring  of  the  "miraculous  gifts 
of  the  Holy  Ghost."     For  even  suppos- 
ing that   all  those    converts   received 
those  gifts,  of  which  there  is  no  assur- 
ance, yet  as  such  gifts  were  not  inten- 
ded for  all  times  and  all  Christians,  the 
«'  laying  on  of  hands"  as  a  "  principle'' 
or  elementary  part  "  of  the  doctrine  of 
Christ"  could  not  have  been  inseparable 
from  them  ;  but  must  have  been  inten- 
ded, just  as  much  as  repentance,  and 


14  BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

faith,   and   baptism,   to    be   continued 
without  them. 

Again.  We  have  no  reason  to  sup- 
pose that  miraculous  gifts  were  a  more 
universal  accompaniment  of  the  imposi- 
tion of  hands  upon  Christians  generally, 
than  they  were  of  the  same  outward 
gesture  when  used  in  ordaining  to  the 
ministry.  But  we  have  not  ceased  to 
imitate  the  apostolic  practice  of  the 
laying  on  of  hands,  with  prayer  for  the 
Holy  Ghost,  when  persons  are  set  apart 
for  the  ministry,  because  we  cannot, 
like  the  Apostles,  confer  the  miraculous 
gifts  of  the  Spirit.  And  we  see  not 
why,  in  the  same  circumstances,  we 
should  not  as  well  continue  to  follow 
their  example  in  reference  to  Christians 
in  general,  and  thus  when  sinners  pro- 
fess   "repentance   from  dead  works," 


ON   CONFIRMATION.  15 

and  "  faith  towards  God,"  and  have 
obeyed  "  the  doctrine  of  Baptisms," 
confer  upon  them  that  which  is  next  in 
the  Apostle's  Catalogue  of  "principles 
of  the  doctrine  of  Christ,"  "  the  laying 
on  of  hands^^  with  solemn  prayer  that 
they  "  may  increase  in  the  Holy  Spirit 
more  and  more,"  and  so  be  prepared 
for  the  two  last  of  those  principles, 
"  resurrection  of  the  dead,  and  eternal 
judgment." 

As  to  how  the  above  passages  of 
scripture  should  be  applied,  we  have 
the  undivided  testimony  of  the  earliest 
centuries  of  the  church.  The  earliest 
writers  refer  to  the  narrative  concern- 
ing the  Samaritan  converts  as  one  of 
the  grounds  on  which  the  rite  was  ob- 
served in  their  days  ; — they  uniformly 
ascribe  the  origin  of   Confirmation  to 


16  BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

the  Apostles,  declaring  that  it  was 
•  practised,  in  subsequent  times,  because 
of  apostolic  example,  and  because  the 
church  believed  that  the  Apostles  ex- 
pected it  to  be  an  ordinance  of  the 
church  for  all  times  and  places.  We 
might  as  well  doubt  whether  the  sacra- 
ment of  baptism  and  the  Lord's  supper 
were  practised  in  the  church  during 
the  earliest  centuries,  as  whether  the 
rite  of  laying  on  of  hands  upon  the 
baptized  was  in  universal  use.  /The 
same  books,  the  same  legislation,  the 
same  councils,  that  speak  of  either, 
speak  of  all — and  of  all,  as  alike  noto- 
^  rious  and  universal.  Tertullian,  in 
the  2d  century,  speaks  of  it  as  univer- 
sally practised  in  his  time.  "Hands 
(he  says)  were  laid  upon  them,  {baptized 
persons,)  by  benediction,  calling  for, 


ON    CONFIRMATION.  17 

and  inYoking,  the  Holy  Gliost."  Cy- 
prian, in  the  third  century,  speaking 
of  the  laying  on  of  hands  by  the  Apos- 
tles, upon  the  converts  \^•hom  Philip 
baptized  in  Samaria,  adds :  "  Which  is 
still  practised  among  z'S."  Jerome,  of 
the  fourth  century,  speaking  of  the 
rite,  says :  "  Dost  thou  ?.sk  me  where 
this  is  written?  In  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles.  But  if  there  were  no  au- 
thority of  scripture,  at  all,  for  it,  the 
consent  ofiJie  ivhok  icorld,  to  this  point, 
might  well  challenge  the  force  of  a 
precept."  Again,  the  same  Father, 
says:  "The  Bishop  is  to  impose  his 
hands  on  those  who  are  baptized  by 
Presbyters  and  Deacon?,  for  the  invo- 
cation of  the  Holy  Spirit."  Another 
Father  of  the  same  century,  Augustine, 
says  :  "  We  acknowledge  imposition  of 


18  BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

hands  with  prayer,  that  they  which  are 
so  taught  might  receive  strength  of 
God's  Spirit,  so  to  continue."  It  is 
impossible  to  suppose  that  this  rite 
could  have  been  at  so  early  a  period, 
universal  among  Christians,  and  traced 
without  a  question,  to  the  example  and 
sanction  of  the  Apostles,  had  it  not 
been  of  such  high  origin,  and  intended 
originally  to  be  thus  perpetuated  in  the 
church. — Perpetuated  it  was  without 
exception,  until  the  sixteenth  century. 
Confounded,  then,  with  the  corruptions 
with  which  it  had  been  encumbered 
under  the  deforming  hand  of  Popery, 
some  leaders  of  the  Reformation  des- 
pairing of  a  separation  between  the 
primitive  institution  and  its  modern 
abuses,  abandoned  both  together. 
The  Lutheran  Churches  were  among 


ON    CONFIRMATION.  19 

those  which  did  not  lay  aside  Confirma- 
tion, in  cleansing  Christianity  from  Po- 
pery. The  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Geneva  was  among  those  which  did. 
But  that,  in  doing  so,  the  primitive 
origin  of  the  ordinance  and  its  spiritual 
value,  when  preserved  in  its  native 
simplicity,  were  not  denied  or  ques- 
tioned by  the  great  Reformer  of  that 
Church,  is  manifest  from  his  writings. 
In  the  -Ith  Book  of  his  Institutes,  un- 
der the  head  of  Confirmation,  Calvin 
says  :  "  It  was  an  ancient  custom  in  the 
church  for  the  children  of  Christians, 
after  they  were  come  to  years  of  dis- 
cretion, to  be  presented  to  the  bishop 
in  order  to  fulfil  that  duty  which  was 
required  of  adults  who  offered  them- 
selves to  baptism.  For  such  persons 
were  placed   among  the  catechumens, 


20  BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

till  being  duly  instructed  in  the  myste- 
ries of  Christianity,  they  were  enabled 
to  make  a  confession  of  their  faith  be- 
fore the  bishop  and  all  the  people. 
Therefore  those  who  had  been  baptized 
in  their  infancy,  because  they  had  not 
then  made  such  a  confession  of  faith 
before  the  church,  at  the  close  of  child- 
hood, or  the  commencement  of  adoles- 
cence, were  again  presented  by  their 
parents,  and  were  examined  by  the 
bishop.  That  this  exercise,  which  de- 
served to  be  regarded  as  sacred  and 
solemn,  might  have  the  greater  dignity 
and  reverence,  they  also  practised  the 
ceremony  of  iiuposUion  oj  hands.  Thus 
the  youth,  after  having  given  satisfac- 
tion concerning  his  faith,  was  dismissed 
with  a  solemn  benediction.  This  cus- 
tom is  frequently  mentioned  by  the  an- 


ON   CONFIRMATION.  21 

cient  writers.  Such  imposition  of  hands, 
as  is  simply  connected  with  benediction, 
/  highly  approve  and  wish  it  icere  now 
restored  to  its  primitive  use,  uncorrupted 
by  superstition.  Succeeding  times  have 
almost  obliterated  the  ancient  practice, 
and  introduced,  I  know  not  what  coun- 
terfeit confirmation  as  a.  sacrament  of 
God."  Then  after  showing  with  what 
superstitions  and  errors  Popery  had 
deformed  the  original  institution,  he 
says,  "  It  was  the  Lord's  will  that 
those  visible  and  wonderful  graces  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  which  he  then  poured 
out  on  his  people,  should  be  admin- 
istered and  distributed  by  his  Apostles 
with  imposition  of  hands.  Now  I  do 
not  conceive  that  the  imposition  of 
hands  concealed  any  higher  mystery, 
but  am  of  opinion  that  this  ceremony 


22  BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

was  employed  by  tliem,  as  an  external 
expression  of  their  commending,  and 
as  it  were,  presenting  to  God,  the  per- 
son upon  whom  they  laid  their  hands  " 
— "  I  sincerely  wish  that  we  retained 
the  custom  which  I  have  stated  was 
practised  among  the  ancients,  before 
this  abortive  image  of  a  sacrament 
made  its  appearance.  For  it  was  not 
such  a  confirmation  as  the  Romanists 
pretend,"  &c. — Institutes^  b.  iv.  §§  4, 
5,  6  and  13. 

It  is  one  of  the  instances  of  that 
eminent  wisdom  with  which  the  Church 
of  England  conducted  her  reformation 
from  the  corruptions  of  the  pap  cy, 
that  this  ordinance,  instead  of  being 
renounced  because  grievously  corrup- 
ted, was  cleansed,  reformed,  and  re- 
tained, because,  though  defiled  and  ccr- 


ON    CONFIRMATION.  23 

rupted,  it  ua-5  still  Apostolic.  As  she 
retained  the  Scriptures,  though  found  at 
the  reformation  almost  buried  under 
the  traditions  of  men,  and  joined,  as  of 
only  equal  authority,  with  the  apocry- 
phal books  ;  as  she  retained  Episcopacy, 
though  it  had  been  crushed  under  the 
usurpations  of  the  Pope's  supremacy  ; 
and  the  Liturgy,  though  it  had  been 
mingled  in  all  directions  with  idolatrous 
services  to  the  Virgin,  and  Saints,  and 
Angels ;  not  thinking  that  the  pure 
gold  was  any  the  less  to  be  valued  and 
kept,  because  it  had  been  associated 
with  '  wood,  hay,  and  stubble  ;'  so  did 
she  retain  the  laying  on  of  hands,  as 
derived  from  the  Apostles  and  intended 
for  the  Church  in  all  ages. 

In  this   connection,  we  may  ask  the 
attention  of  the  reader  to  the  following 


24  BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

extract  from  a  valuable  Report  made 
in  years  past,  to  the  General  Assembly 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  the 
United  States,  by  a  committee  appoint- 
ed to  report  on  the  best  method  of 
treating  those  who  had  been  baptized. 
The  document  is  valuable  as  a  just  ex- 
position of  the  relations  between  the 
church  and  baptized  children,  as  well 
as  for  its  testimony  on  our  present 
subject. 

"The  Primitive  Church  considered 
herself  as  the  common  mother  of  all 
baptized  children,  and  exercised  a  cor- 
responding care  over  them,  that  they 
might  be  trained  up  as  a  generation  to 
serve  the  Lord.  She  did  not  indeed,  in 
so  many  words,  in  her  public  confes- 
sions, adopted  and  enlarged  from  time 
to  time  to  meet  prevailing  errors,  avow 


ox    CONFIRMATION.  25 

the  principle  :  nor  -was  it  necessary,  for 
the  principle  was  recognized  in  the  re- 
quirement of  '  a  promise  or  vow  from 
the  baptized  person,  that  he  would  live 
according  to  the  rules  of  Christanity.' 
As  this  TOW  could  not  be  made  by  in- 
fants, it  was  required  from  those  who 
presented  them.  These  persons,  whe- 
ther parents  or  others,  besides  receiving 
themselves,  as  members  of  the  church, 
the  seal  of  baptism,  become  responsible 
not  only  for  the  instruction,  but  for  the 
admonition  and  rebuke,  if  necessary,  of 
the  children  baptized.  Individuals  of 
eminence  in  the  Primitive  Church,  in- 
cidentally avow  the  principle,  and  draw 
conclusions  from  it  suitable  to  the  cir- 
cumstances which  led  them  to  avow  the 
principle.  Thus  Agustine  says,  '  child- 
ren were  presented  to  baptism,  not  so 


26  BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

much  by  those  in  whose  hands  they 
were  brought,  (though  by  them  too  if 
they  were  good  faithful  men,)  as  by  the 
whole  society  of  saints.  The  whole 
Church  was  their  mother.'  Hence  he 
concludes  the  Church  is  bound  to  main- 
tain baptized  children,  who  in  the  course 
of  Providence  should  be  deprived  of 
support.  That  this  principle  was  in 
fact  avowed  by  the  Primitive  Church  in 
her  practice,  though  not  in  words  in  her 
confession,  appears  from  the  design  of 
the  rite  of  Confirmation  ;  the  attention 
which  was  paid  to  the  instruction  of 
baptized  children ;  and  the  discipline 
actually  inflicted  upon  them  in  case  of 
improper  conduct. 

"  It  appears  that  a  rite,  called'  Con- 
firmation, was  administered  by  the  im- 
position of  the  hand  of  the  Minister, 


ON    CONFIRMATION.  27 

or  Bishop,  or  Elder,  together  with 
prayer,  on  baptized  children  at  a  cer- 
tain age.  Both  Calvin  and  Owen  ac- 
knowledged that  this  practice  existed 
at  a  very  early  period  in  the  Church. 
The  latter  thus  states  its  design ; 
'When  they,  (that  is,  the  children  of 
believers,  baptized  in  their  infancy) 
were  established  in  the  knowledge  of 
these  necessary  truths,  (of  which  he 
makes  mention  before,)  and  had  resolved 
on  personal  obedience  unto  the  Gospel, 
they  were  offered  unto  the  fellowship 
of  the  faithful  :  and  here,  on  giving  the 
same  account  of  their  faith  and  repen- 
tance which  others  had  done  before, 
they  were  baptized,  they  were  admitted 
into  the  conmiunion  of  the  Church ;  the 
elders  thereof  laying  their  hands  on 
them,  in  token  of  their  acceptation,  and 


28  BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

praying  for  their  confirmation  in  tlie 
faith.'  This  rite,  which  originally  was 
confined  to  those  who  were  baptized  in 
their  infancy,  was  afterwards  adminis- 
tered to  adults,  immediately  upon  their 
baptism.  In  process  of  time,  when  the 
Church  became  grossly  corrupted  in 
her  practice  as  well  as  doctrine,  it  was 
administered  to  infants  immediately 
after  baptism,  that  they  might  receive 
the  Lord's  supper. — This  historical  fact, 
while  it  exhibits  a  most  deplorable  su- 
perstition, strikingly  illustrates  the  de- 
sign of  Confirmation,  as  already  stated 
from  Dr.  Owen.  By  this  rite,  '  it 
came  to  pass,  saith  the  judicious  Hook- 
er, that  children  in  expectation  thereoT 
were  seasoned  with  the  principles  of 
true  religion,  before'  malice  and  corrupt 
examples  depraved  their  minds  ;  a  good 


ON    CONFIRMATION.  29 

foundation  was   laid  betimes  for  direc- 
tion of  the  course  of  their  whole  lives  : 
the  seed  of  the  Church  of  God  was  pre- 
served sincere  and  sound  :   the  prelates 
and   fathers   of  God's  family,  to  whom 
the  care  of  their  souls  belonged,  saw  bj 
trial  and  examination  of  them,  a  part 
of  their  own  heavy  burthen  discharged  ; 
reaped  comfort  by  beholding  the   first 
beginnings   of  true  godliness  in    their 
tender  years,  glorified  Him  whose  praise 
they  found  in  the  mouth  of  infants  ;  and 
neglected  not  so  fit  an   opportunity  of 
giving  every  one  fatherly   encourage- 
ment and   exhortation  :  whereunto  im- 
jjosition  of  Jiands,  and  prayer  being  ad- 
ded, our  warrant   for  the   great  good 
effect  thereof,  is  the  same  which  Patri- 
archs, Prophets,  Priests,  Apostles,  Fa- 
thers, and  men  of  God  have   had,  for 


30  BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

such  their  particular  invocations  and 
benedictions  as  no  man,  I  suppose,  pro- 
fessing truth  and  religion,  will  easily 
think  to  have  been  without  fruit.'  This 
rite  of  Confirmation,  thus  administered 
to  baptized  children,  when  arrived  at 
competent  years,  and  previously  in- 
structed and  prepared  for  it,  with  the 
express  view  of  their  admission  to  the 
Lord's  supper,  shows  clearly  that  the 
Primitive  Church  in  her  purest  days, 
exercised  the  authority  of  a  mother 
over  her  baptized  children." 

II.  Let  us  next  consider  the  nature  and 
spiritual  signification  of  this  ordinance. 
It  is  the  ordinance  preparatory  to  the 
admission  of  a  baptized  person  to  the 
full  communion  of  the  Church,  in  the 
Lord's  supper.  It  is  the  mode  used  in 
our  church,  by  which  those  who  desire 


ON   CONFIRMATION.  31 

to  partake  of  the  Lord's  supper,  first 
publicly  profess  their  faith  in  Christ, 
with  their  cordial  consecration  of  them- 
selves to  his  will  ;  and  upon  which  they 
are  admitted  to,  and  expected  to  par- 
take in,  the  highest  act  of  the  outward 
and  visible  communion  of  the  house  of 
God.  All  the  older  and  better  regu- 
lated denominations  of  Protestant  Chris- 
tians have  felt  the  need  of,  and  have, 
with  more  or  less  constancy,  practised, 
some  public  ceremony  preparatory  to 
admission  of  the  baptized  to  the  Lord's 
supper,  by  which  their  spiritual  prepa- 
ration and  faith  might  be  examined  into 
and  professed  before  the  congregation. 
Confirmation  is  the  mode  practised 
among  us,  in  preference  to  any  other 
way — and  we  think  it  no  little  evidence 
of  its  being  the  best  w^ay,  that  it  is 


32  BISHOP    M'lLVAINE 

derived  from,  the  usage  of  the  ^Vpostles 
and  the  uninterrupted  usage  of  the 
Church  from  their  times. 

In  Confirmation,  should  you  come 
thereto,  you  will  publicly  profess  and 
declare  that  you  heartily  consent  to  the 
vows  undertaken,  in  your  name,  at 
your  baptism  ]  that  you  acknowledge 
yourselves  under  entire  obligation  to 
keep  them,  and  that  you  do  devote  your- 
selves, solemnly  and  sincerely,  to  that 
life  of  holy  obedience  to  which  they 
bind  you.  What  you  will  do  in  receiv- 
ing confirmation,  is  precisely  the  same 
in  point  of  self-consecration  to  God,  as 
what  an  adult  person  does  in  receiving 
baptism,  with  this  single  exception, 
that  in  confirmation,  vows  previously 
made  are  renewed  and  ratified^  while  in 
adult  baptism  they  are  for  the  first  time 


ON   CONFIRMATION.  33 

made  and  professed.  But  as  to  the 
seriousness  and  solemnity  of  the  en- 
gagements and  professions  involved  in 
the  two  cases,  there  is  no  diflference. 
Read,  there,  in  your  prayer  book,  what 
an  adult  promises  and  professes  when 
baptized  ;  and  you  will  see  what  you  are 
to  do  when  confirmed.  He  professes 
not  merely  that  he  will^  but  that  he 
does  renounce  the  devil  aiid  all  his  works, 
the  vain  pomp  and  glory  of  the  ivorld, 
with  all  covetous  desires  of  the  same,  and 
the  sivful  desires  of  the  fleshy  so  as  hj 
God's  help,  not  to  follow  nor  be  led  by 
them.  This  is  evidently  a  positive 
abandonment  of  all  that  is  offensive  to 
God.  It  includes  every  department, 
every  source,  every  form  of  sin.  ^^  hat- 
ever  is  kicluded  in  conformity  to  the 
world,  in  being  of  the  world,  or  in  liv- 
3 


34  BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

ing  unto  yourselves,  is  unquestionably 
embraced.  Nothing  offensive  to  God, 
or  injurious  to  the  soul,  is  excepted. 
It  is  as  perfect  and  exalted  a  profession 
of  a  determination  to  forsake  all  sin  and 
to  live  above  the  world,  and  to  deny 
self  and  cultivate  a  spiritual  and  heav- 
enly mind,  as  any  communicant  at  the 
Lord's  table  is  ever  called  to  make. 
But  further  :  The  adult,  in  his  baptism, 
besides  professing  his  belief  in  the  doc- 
trines of  Christianity,  as  expressed  in 
the  Apostles'  creed,  promises,  by  the 
help  of  God,  ohedientiij  to  keep  God's 
hohj  will  and  commandments,  and  walk 
in  tJw  same  all  tJie  days  of  his  life.  This 
covers  the  whole  ground  of  active, 
earnest,  devoted  piety.  It  is  a  solemn 
promise  and  profession  of  devoting  him- 
self to  all  that  belongs  to  the  life  of  a 


ON    CONFIRMATION.  35 

Christian — the  whole  spirit,  and  walk, 
and  conversation  of  a  faithful  servant 
of  God.  It  embraces  all  that  is  strict 
and  holy  and  heavenly-minded  in  the 
ways  of  a  devoted  follower  of  Christ, 
who  lives  as  a  pilgrim  and  stranger  on 
earth,  and  sets  his  aflfections  on  things 
above. 

Such  are  the  serious  and  thorough 
terms  of  the  profession  you  will  make 
before  Grod  and  his  Church,  when,  to 
the  question  of  the  Bishop,  in  the  Con- 
firmation service,  you  shall  answer  in 
those  two  short  words,  "  I  do."  This 
answer  is  easily  uttered,  but  how  much 
does  it  mean  !  '  I  do  henceforth  re- 
nounce the  love  and  service  of  the 
world — I  will  not  follow  it — its  covetous 
desires  shall  not  lead  me,  nor  will  I 
seek  my  pleasure  in  its  pomp  and  vanities. 


36  BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

I  will  live  above  it,  and  set  my  affec- 
tions on  things  in  heaven.  Whatever 
is  sinful  I  renounce  ;  whatever  is  duty 
I  embrace.  To  all  the  will  of  God,  as 
revealed  in  the  Bible,  I  devote  myself. 
Does  he  command  me  to  be  holy,  to  be 
humble,  to  walk  in  love,  to  live  by 
faith,  to  be  spiritually  minded,  to  im- 
prove my  talents  for  his  service,  to  en- 
deavor to  do  good  to  my  fellow  creatures, 
to  glorify  him  with  my  body  and  spirit, 
and  to  take  the  Holy  Scriptures  as 
the  rule  by  which  my  mind  and  heart 
and  all  my  life  are  to  be  guided,  and 
by  which  every  question  of  faith  and 
duty  is  to  be  determined — -the  book 
which  I  am  to  search  and  follow  as  the 
lamp  of  my  feet  and  the  light  of  my 
path  1  To  this  reasonable  service  I  do 
publicly  profess,  in  reliance  on  his  grace, 


ON   CONFIRMATION.  37 

to  consecrate  myself  for  the  remainder 
of  my  life.' 

Thus  you  perceive  that  Confirmation 
is  not  a  mere  ceremony,  to  which  one 
may  come  without  any  reference  to  the 
question  whether  he  has  given  his 
heart  and  life  to  Christ.  You  see  that 
it  is  nothing  less  than  a  public  pro- 
fession of  personal  religion.  It  is  a 
solemn  avowal  before  God  and  the 
Church,  that  henceforth,  by  His  grace, 
you  will  live  no  longer  unto  yourselves, 
but  unto  him  that  died  for  you.  Hence 
the  strong  language  in  which  the  pro- 
fession, undertaken  in  baptism  and  re- 
newed in  confirmation,  is  expressed  in 
the  baptismal  service.  "  Baptism  doth 
represent  unto  us  our  profession,  which 
is  to  follow  the  example  of  our  Saviour 
Christ,  and  be  made  like  unto  him,  that 


38  BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

as  he  died  and  rose  again  for  us  ;  so 
should  we,  who  are  baptized,  die  from 
sin  and  rise  again  unto  righteousness, 
continually  mortifying  all  our  evil  and 
corrupt  affections,  and  daily  proceeding 
in  all  virtue  and  godliness  of  living." 

The  candidate  for  confirmation  should 
well  consider  the  full  meaning  and  ex- 
tent of  what  under  the  above  exposi- 
tion, he  will  be  expected  to  declare  and 
profess.  And  as  there  is  too  often 
manifested  a  sad  looseness  of  construc- 
tion and  of  practice  on  the  part  of  those 
who  have  been  confirmed,  as  to  worldly 
conformity,  a  few  more  words  on  that 
point  will  not  be  out  of  place. 

If  ihe  writer  be  asked,  whether,  in  his 
view,  among  "  the  poinps  and  vanities 
of  this  uicked  ivorld^"^  which  are  re- 
nounced    in     baptism,    are     included 


ON   CONFIRMATION.  39 

theatrical  amusements  and  dances  ;  he 
answers  without  hesitation,  in  the  affir- 
mative. If  he  be  asked  whether,  under 
the  Apostle's  exhortation,  "  be  not  con- 
formed to  the  world ^"^  they  are,  in  his 
view,  included  as  matters  of  worldly 
conformity  to  be  forsaken  ;  he  answers, 
certainly.  If  he  be  asked  whether 
those  things  are  consistent  with  the 
cultivation  of  a  spiritual  mind,  and  the 
maintaining  of  a  rightful  Christian  in- 
fluence, by  example,  for  the  good  of 
man  and  the  glory  of  God  ;  he  must 
answer,  they  are,  in  his  view,  very  in- 
consistent with  such  duties.  He  thinks 
they  are  renounced  in  baptism  ;  that 
their  renunciation  is  ratified  in  con- 
firmation, and  professed  in  every  par- 
ticipation of  the  Lord's  Supper.  He 
prays   the   time   may   come   when    all 


40  BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

comnninicants  will  unite  in  rejecting 
these  things  ;  and  he  trusts  that  all 
who  come  to  be  confirmed,  under  his 
hands,  will  consider  themselves  as 
solemnly  separated  from  them.  The 
question,  in  his  view,  is  very  simple. 
It  is  not,  as  it  is  often,  delusively,  put, 
what  is  the  harm  of  dancing  or  of 
dramatic  representations,  and  the  like, 
under  any  conceivable  simplicity  and 
abstraction,  which  because  it  would 
present  no  inducement  to  a  vrorldly 
taste,  would  never  be  customary ;  but  it 
is,  what  is  their  inconsistency  with  the 
spirit,  example,  profession,  and  whole 
spiritual  walk  of  a  Christian,  when  they 
are  contemplated  in  the  condition,  and 
surrounded  by  all  the  associations,  in 
which  the  world  always  has  had,  and 
always    will    have,   them.     We    must 


ON  CONFIRMATION.  41 

take  them  as  they  are,  and  are  to  be. 
We  must  look  at  them  as  to  the  state 
of  mind  they  engender ;  the  time  they 
waste  ;  the  expenses  they  involve  ;  the 
obstacles  they  place  to  the  saving  in- 
fluence of  the  word  and  ordinances  of 
God;  the  difl&culties  they  make  for  a 
pious  parent  endeavoring  to  train  his 
children,  according  to  their  baptism,  in 
the  nurture  of  the  Lord  :  and  the  offence 
which  they  certainly  are  to  the  great 
mass  of  serious,  earnest.  Christian  peo- 
ple. We  feel  well  assured  that  these 
things  are  "  of  Hue  world,''^  while  true 
Christians  are  not.  When  professing 
Christians,  as  a  community,  are  in  the 
habit  of  these  things,  spiritual,  earnest, 
active  piety  cannot  flourish,  formality 
must  prvail,  and  the  world  will  mould 


42  BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

the  diurch  much  more  than  the  church 
will  sanctify  the  world.* 

Here    it  is  proper  to   say  that  our 

*  In  the  year  1817,  these  things  came  be- 
fore the  General  Convention  of  our  church, 
and  the  House  of  Eisliops  entered  on  their 
journal  tlie  following  :  "  The  House  of  Bishops, 
solicitous  for  the  preservation  of  the  purity  of 
the  Church,  and  the  piety  of  its  members,  are 
induced  to  press  on  the  clergy  the  important 
duty,  with  a  discreet  but  earnest  zeal,  of  warn- 
ing  the  people  of  their  respective  cures  of  the 
danger  of  an  induldgence  in  those  worldly 
pleasures  which  may  tend  to  withdraw  their 
affections  from  spiritual  things.  And  especi- 
ally on  the  subject  of  theatrical  amusements, 
to  which  some  peculiar  circumstances  have 
called  their  attention,  lliey  do  not  hesitate  to 
express  their  unanimous  opinion,  that  these 
amusements,  as  well  from  their  licentious  ten- 
dency,  as  from  the  strong  temptations  to  vice 
which  they  afford,  ought  not  to  be  freqaented." 


ON   CONFIRMATION.  43 

Churcli  is  very  far  from  regarding  Con- 
firmation as  possessing  the  dignity  and 
authority  of  a   sacrament;    wliicli,  as 
you  have  learned,  from  the  Catechism 
of  the  Church,  must  necessarily  consist     /^ 
of  two  parts  :— 1st.  "  an  outward  and 
Visible  sign  ;"   and  2d.   "  an   outicard 
and  spiritual  grace  given  unto  W5,"  and 
which  that  sign  signifies  and  pledges. 
These  are  truly  found  in  Baptism  and  ^ 
the  Lord's  Supper.     But,  in  Confirma- 
tion, though  there  is,  on  the  part  of  the 
Bishop,  the  outward  sign  of  the  laying 
on  oj  hands,  it  is  not  intended  to  sig- 
nify any  grace  residing  in,  or  commu- 
nicated   or    promised    to,    the    person 
confirmed.     It  is  only  a  gesture  indi- 
eating  that  he  is  set  apart  for  God,  and 
uiade  a  special  subject  of  prayer. 

Airain,  it  is  required  by  the  definition  ^ 
of  a  Sacrament,  above  referred  to,  that     1 


44  BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

it  be  "  orclahicd  by  Christ  himself, "^^ 
Thus  were  Baptism  and  the  Lord's  sup- 
per most  emphatically  ordained.  They 
are  necessary  to  the  integrity  of  the 
Christian  Church.  A  church  as  a  visi- 
ble society  cannot  exist  without  them. 
But  not  so  with  Confirmation.  The 
highest  authority  claimed  for  this  rite 
is  the  example  of  the  Apostles — as  in 
the  prayer  next  to  the  Lord's  Prayer, 
in  the  '  Order  of  Confirmation,'  where 
the  administrator  says,  "  We  make  our 
humble  supplications  unto  thee  for  these 
thy  servants,  on  whom,  afte?-  the  example 
of  thy  holy  Apostles,  we  have  now  laid  our 
hands."  This  indeed  is  very  high  and 
sacred  authority,  demanding  a  very  re- 
verent and  obedient  homage.  And  there- 
fore did  the  Church  for  more  than  1500 
years  after  the   Apostles,  without  any 


ON   CONFIRMATION.  45 

controversy  or  exception,  practise  this 
rite.  And  therefore  do  all  Episcopal 
Churches  and  many  others  continue  its 
practice.  But  still  we  do  not  regard 
it  as  having  been  ordained  in  the  same 
positive  and  authoritative  manner  as 
Baptism,  and  the  Lord's  supper.  In 
point  of  dignity  and  importance,  we  most 
carefully  distinguish  it  from  those  two 
institutions  which  the  Lord  himself  so 
imperatively  appointed  as  the  great  seals 
of  his  Church  and  people  to  the  end  of 
the  world. 

Now,  my  dear  friends,  should  you 
come  to  be  confirmed,  the  usefulness  of 
this  ordinance  to  you,  will  depend  en- 
tirely on  the  state  nf  mind  in  which  you 
shall  receive  it.  It  is  no  charm  which 
is  to  do  you  good,  whatever  your  quali- 
fications for  its  reception.     The  Bishop, 


46  BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

administering,  cannot  convey  to  your 
souls  any  spiritual  blessing.  He  can 
only  pray  for  you.  It  is  therefore  ex- 
ceedingly important  that  you  will  under- 
stand and  consider  what  is  necessary  to 
qualify  you  for  the  worthy  receiving  of 
this  ordinance.  We  proceed  therefore, 
to  our  third  subject  of  enquiry,  viz  : 

III.  I'lie  Qiialijications  for  Co?i- 
firmalioti. 

These,  as  laid  down  by  the  Church, 
are  of  two  general  kinds,  intellectual 
Sind  spiritual ;  qualifications  as  to  know- 
ledge of  religious  truth,  and  as  to  dis- 
positions and  determination  to  religious 
duty. 

Let  us  first  consider  the  knoivledge 
required.  Read  the  opening  address 
of  the  Confirmation  service,  and  you 
will  see  what  the   Church  declares  on 


ON    CONFIRMATION.  47 

this  head.  In  that  summary  is  includ- 
ed the  knowledge  of  the  creed,  the 
Lord's  prayer,  the  ten  commandments 
and  the  catechism  of  the  Church.  To 
these,  of  course,  must  be  added  a 
knowledge  of  the  vows  of  baptism,  which 
by  the  candidate  are  to  be  ratified  and 
confirmed.  It  can  hardly  be  conceived 
by  the  feeblest  mind  that  merely  to  be 
able  to  say  these  formularies  of  religious 
knowledge  is  enough.  They  evidently 
embrace  a  comprehensive  view  of  Chris- 
tian doctrine  and  duty,  of  the  way  of 
salvation  and  of  the  privileges,  re- 
sponsibilities and  whole  character  of  a 
follower  of  Christ ;  and  as  such,  it  is 
therefore  the  expectation  of  the  Church 
that,  besides  being  learned  by  memory, 
they  shall  be  understood  in  their  mean- 
ing and  solemn  obligation.    The  amount 


48  BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

of  knowledge  required  is  placed  at  this 
low  and  simple  mark  ;  not  by  any  means 
because  it  is  not  extremely  important 
that  all  Christians  should  go  on  to  in- 
crease in  religious  knowledge,  to  the 
utmost  of  their  abilities  and  oppor- 
tunities ;  but  it  was  necessary  thus  to 
place  it,  lest  any  of  the  young  and  the 
poor  and  the  weak-minded,  and  those 
of  small  opportunities  of  knowledge, 
who  nevertheless  know  enough  to  follow 
Christ,  and  who  do  truly  follow  him, 
should  be  excluded  from  the  communion 
of  his  Church.  But  knoivledge  is  a 
small  part  of  the  qualilications  required 
for  Confirmation.  There  is  a  prepara- 
tionf  o  tJie  heart,  as  well  as  the  avsucr 
of  the  tonpie.  What  is  that  prepara- 
tion ?     In  other  words  : 

What  are  the  spirUual  qiialijications  ? 


ON    CONFIRilATION.  49 

These  are  not  expressed  in  that  address 
of  the  Confirmation  office,  M^hich  speaks 
so  plainly  of  what  "  the  Church  hath 
thought  good  to  order,"  in  regard  to 
the  knowledge  required.  And  hence 
not  a  few  have  taken  up  the  singular 
idea  that  what  is  speciaed  in  that  ad- 
dress is  the  whole  qualification  of  un}' 
kind  demanded,  as  well  spiritual,  as 
intellectual.  But  did  the  Church  mean 
to  teach  that  when  a  person  comes  to 
renew  and  solemnly  ratify  and  profess 
the  vows  of  his  baptism,  his  only  re- 
quired qualification  is  a  knowledge  of 
the  nature  and  meaning  of  those  vows, 
without  any  serious  purpose,  disposi- 
tion and  determination,  by  the  help  of 
God,  and  the  use  of  all  the  means  of 
grace  to  comply  with  them ;  that  when 
he  confirms  his  renunciation  of  the  world 
4 


50  BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

and  of  all  sin,  it  shall  not  be  required 
of  him  that  he  have  the  heart  and  de- 
sire, and  resolution  actually  to  renounce 
them  ;  that  when  he  ratifies  his  solemn 
engagements  to  keep  the  word  of  God 
to  his  life's  end,  it  shall  not  be  one  part 
of  his  qualification  that  his  afi"ections  be 
set  upon  that  will,  and  his  life  be  really 
consecrated  thereto  ?  The  church  could 
not  possibly  be  guilty  of  such  an  ab- 
surdity. 

The  Church  has  not  detailed  the 
spiritual  requisites  for  Confirmation,  in 
the  service  for  that  rite,  as  she  has  the 
intellectMal ;  because  she  has  so  particu- 
larly expressed  them  elsewhere,  and  in 
those  very  formularies  which  the  re- 
quired knowledge  embraces.  For  ex- 
ample, in  the  catechism,  it  is  asked 
"  What   is   required    of  persons  to   be 


ON   CONFIRMATION.  61 

baptized  V^  This  question,  of  course, 
is  just  as  applicable  to  persons  to  be 
confirmed  ;  since  the  vows  assumed  in 
baptism  are  the  vows  ratified  in  Con- 
firmation. And  what  is  the  answer  of 
the  Church  to  that  question  ?  "  Re- 
lientance  whereby  they  forsake  sin  ;  and 
faith  whereby  they  steadfastly  believe 
the  promises  of  God  made  to  them  in 
that  sacrament;"  that  is,  faith  whereby 
they  embrace  all  the  promises  of  sanc- 
tification  and  justification  through  the 
mediation  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Again,  it  is  asked  in  the  catechism, 
"  What  is  required  of  those  who  come  to 
the  Lord's  Supper  ?"  And  this  ques- 
tion is  quite  as  applicable  to  those  who 
come  to  be  Confirmed,  since  Confirma- 
tion is  the  introductory  rite  to  the  Lord's 
Supper,  and  he  who  has  received  the 


52  BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

former  is  considered  as  having  been  ad- 
mitted by  the  highest  human  ministry 
of  the  Church  to  the  latter,  and  as  hav- 
ing a  riglit,  and  as  being  bound  by  the 
vows  renewed  in  Confirmation,  to  come 
thereto,  unless  something  of  a  dis- 
qualifying nature  has  occurred  since  he 
was  confirmed.  Thus,  then,  in  the  an- 
swer to  the  question  of  the  catechism, 
as  to  the  qualifications  for  the  Lord's 
Supper,  as  well  as  in  what  is  said  con- 
cerning baptism,  the  Church  defines  the 
spiritual  preparation  for  those  who 
should  be  Confirmed.  And  what  is 
that  answer  1  "  To  examine  themselves 
whether  they  repent,  them  truly  of  their 
former  sins  ;  steadfastly  purposing  to 
lead  a  new  life  ;  having  a  lively  faith 
in  God's  mercy,  through  Christ,  with  a 


ON   CONFIRMATION.  53 

thankful  remembrance  of  his  death  ;  and 
be  in  charity  with  all  men." 

Now  it  is  evident  that  what  is  here  said 
of  preparation  for  the  Lord's  Supper  is 
but  the  repetition,  with  a  little  more 
detail,  of  what  is  previously  said  of  pre- 
paration for  Baptism.  For  each  sac- 
rament, the  great  constituents  of  all 
spiritual  qualification  are  Repentance 
for  sin,  for  all  sin  of  which  we  are  guilty 
in  thought,  word,  or  deed  ;  repentance 
of  so  sincere  and  hearty  a  nature  that 
it  causes  ilie  forsaking  of  all  sin  and  the 
steadfast  jm.rpose  to  lead  a  neiv  life; 
and  then  Faith,  embracing  all  the  pro- 
raises  of  the  Gospel  as  all  our  hope — "  a 
livcli/  faith,"  not  the  mere  faith  of  the 
understanding,  but  the  living  and  active 
faith  of  the  heart,  which  trusts  only  "  in 
God^s  mercy  thrugh  Christ,''^  as  all  the 


54  BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

sinner's  dependance  for  salvation — a 
faith  which  so  worketh  by  love  that  it 
brings  forth  the  fruit  of  a  "a  ihavkful 
•remembrance  of  Christ? &  death ^"^  and  a 
life  of  "  charity  ivith  all  meny 

Such  are  the  qualifications  for  that 
rite  which  ratifies  and  confirms  the  vows 
of  Baptism  and  opens  the  door  to  the 
communion  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  But 
they  are  more  at  large  expressed  in  the 
service  of  adult  Baptism.  There, — in 
the  conculding  address  to  the  person 
baptized,  you  will  see  that  he  is  exhor- 
ted as  one  who  has  by  his  baptism  pro- 
fessed to  be  "  a  child  of  God  and  of  the 
light,  by  faith  in  Jesus  Christ."  The 
nature  of  his  profession,  as  represented 
in  his  Baptism,  "  is  to  follow  the  ex- 
ample of  our  Saviour  Christ,  and  to  be 
made  like  unto  him ;  that  as  he  died, 


ON   CONFIRMATION.  55 

and  rose  again  for  us,  so  should  we  wlio 
are  baptized,  die  from  sin  and  rise 
again  unto  righteousness;  continually 
nwrtifying  all  our  evil  and  corrupt 
aifections,  and  daily  proceeding  in  all 
virtue  and  godliness  of  living."  Un- 
questionably none  who  have  come  to 
vears  of  discretion  should  be  admitted 
to  baptism,  except  they  do  seriously 
hope,  after  serious  self-examination,  that 
they  can  sincerely  and  heartily  enter  up- 
on that  profession,  and  come  to  that  sac- 
rament, repenting  and  believing  with  a 
lively  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  re- 
nouncing the  world,  with  all  its  pomps 
and  vanities,  and  consecrating  themselves 
unreservedly  to  the  commandments  and 
ordinances  of  the  Lord,  and  this  unques- 
tionably is  equally  true  of  confirmation. 
Turn  to  the  service  of  the  Commu- 


56  BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

nion,  and  you  will  see  tlie  same  in  a 
somewhat  different  aspect.  There  the 
Minister  is  standing  at  the  Table  of  the 
Lord.  Before  he  begins  the  prepara- 
tion of  the  feast,  he  publishes  the 
invitation, — but  before  the  invitation, 
—the  terms — namely,  that  they  "  come 
in  the  mai'riage  gar7nent  required 
h]j  God  in  Holy  Scripture.''^  The 
benefit  is  great  indeed,  but  only  to 
those  who  come  "  with  a  true  penitent 
heart  and  lively  faith."  He  therefore 
pronounces  the  only  terms  :  "  Ye  who 
do  truly  and  earnestly  repent  you  of 
your  sins,  and  are  in  love  and  charity 
with  your  neighbours,  and  intend  to 
lead  a  new  life,  following  the  command- 
ments of  God  and  walking  from  hence- 
forth in  his  holy  ways,  draw  near,"  &c. 
But  since  confirmation  is  the  door  to 


ON   CONFIRMATION.  57 

the  communion ;  since  the  personal  ratifi- 
cation of  our  baptismal  vows,  "  in  spirit 
and  in  ttath^'^  gives  a  title  of  admission, 
or  rather  does  admit,  to  the  communion 
of  the  church,  these  solemn  words  at 
the  table  of  the  Lord  should  be  consi- 
dered as  addressed  to  every  candidate 
for  confirmation,  afi'ectionately  inviting 
and  bidding  those  to  come  who  do  hum- 
bly believe  they  have  a  true  penitent 
heart  and  living  faith,  and  do  heartily 
desire  and  determine,  by  the  grace  of 
Grod,  to  live  as  becometh  the  Gospel ; 
but  with  equal  decision  fencing  up  the 
rite  from  the  approach  of  all  who  have 
no  reason  to  believe  that  they  have 
thus  embraced  the  promises. 

If  you  will  now  peruse  the  service  for 
Confirmation  you  will  see  an  entire  rati- 
fication of  all  the  views  above  expressed. 


58  BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

Every  part  of  that  service  proceeds 
upon  the  supposition  that  the  candidates 
have  come  in  the  spirit  of  which  we 
have  been  speaking,  and  consider  them- 
selves as  making  the  solemn  profession 
before  God  and  man,  which  we  have 
described.  They  are  regarded  not  as 
merely  desiring  to  become  the  followers 
of  Christ ;  not  as  having  only  a  serious 
consideration  of  religion,  and  a  serious 
disposition  towards  its  duties,  which 
they  may  hope  will  be  strengthened  and 
carried  on  by  attendance  on  this  and  all 
other  ordinances  of  the  church,  till  they 
ripen  at  last  into  positive  piety  and 
an  actual  reconciliation  with  God.  This 
indeed,  it  is  to  be  feared,  is  the  footing 
on  which  not  a  few  contemplate  a  par- 
ticipation in  this  rite,  as  well  as  in  the 
sacraments  of  the  church.     They  rightly 


ON   CONFIRMATION.  59 

regard  these  ordinances  as  means  of 
gmce ;  but  they  forget  that  they  are 
means  for  the  confirmation^  not  for  the 
first  inipkuitatlon,  of  grace.  They  are 
means  of  grace  indeed,  and  most  emi- 
nently adapted  for  the  strengthening 
and  furthering  in  our  hearts  of  repen- 
tance and  faith  ;  but  it  is  required  that 
before  we  come  to  them,  we  be  already 
in  the  exercise,  at  least  in  some  infant 
degree,  of  "  a  true  penitent  heart  and 
lively  faith."  So  that  merely  to  have 
a  serious  mind  in  regard  to  these  things, 
and  a  general  desire  to  obtain  them, 
and  a  hope,  through  such  ordinances, 
to  possess  them,  by  and  by,  is  far  from 
the  state  of  mind  and  heart  required. 
You  will  see  by  a  perusal  of  the  con- 
firmation service,  that  those  who  come 
thereto  are  regarded,  not  as  inte?iding 


60  BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

to  enter  upon  tlie  Christian  life,  hut  as 
having  done  so  already.  In  the  prayer 
oflFered  up  by  the  bishop  in  their  behalf, 
just  before  the  laying  on  of  hands,  they 
are  spoken  of  as  being  now  regeneratjed 
by  the  Holy  Ghost^  and  as  having  already 
received  tJie  forgiveness  of  all  their  sins. 
And  in  the  solemn  supplication  which 
accompanies  the  imposition  of  hands, 
the  petition  is  not  that  they  may  be- 
come, but  that  they  may  co?itinue  to  be 
the  servants  of  Grod  :  not  that  they 
may  receive,  but  daily  increase  in,  the 
Holy  Spirit  more  and  more. 

From  all  that  has  now  been  said,  you 
perceive,  my  dear  friends,  how  griev- 
iously  they  are  mistaken  who  suppose 
that  any  who  do  not  conscientiously  hope 
they  have  given  their  hearts  and  lives 
to  Christ,  should  come  to  confirmation. 


ON   CONFIRMATION.  61 

You  see  that  he  who  comes  to  the  Lord's 
Supper,  is  bound  by  no  obligations, 
makes  no  professions,  assumes  no  respon- 
sibilities, which  do  not  equally  rest  upon 
him  who  has  been  confirmed.  Then  let 
me  ask  you  this  question.  Should  any  one 
approach  to  confirmation,  who  does  not 
feel  himself  prepared  for  the  communion  T 
If  he  shrink  from  the  solemnity  and  re- 
sponsibility of  the  latter,  has  he  not 
quite  as  much  reason  to  shrink  from  the 
solemnity  and  responsibility  of  the  for- 
mer ?  Unquestionably,  whoever  is  pre- 
pared to  ratify  his  baptismal  vows,  in 
the  one,  is  prepared  to  do  it,  and  is 
bound  to  do  it  in  the  other.  He  who 
repents,  and  believes  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  with  a  true  and  living  faith,  is 
prepared  for  both ;  as  evidently  as  that 


62  BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

he  who  does  not,  is  prepared  for  neither. 
So  that  none  should  be  admitted  to  con- 
firmation but  those  who  will  expect  to 
proceed  from  thence,  on  the  earliest 
opportunity,  to  the  commemoration  of 
the  death  of  Christ  in  the  holy  Eucha- 
rist. Said  Bishop  Burnet .  '*  Till  one 
is  of  an  age  and  disposition  fit  to  re- 
ceive the  holy  sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
Supper,  and  desires  to  be  confirmed  as 
a  solemn  preparation  and  qualification 
for  it,  he  is  not  ready"  for  confirmation. 
— Pastoral  Care,  190. 

In  requiring  that  every  candidate  for 
confirmation  should  become  a  commu- 
nicant immediately  after  his  confirma- 
tion, as  a  matter  of  course,  we  do  not 
bring  down  the  spiritual  qualifications 
for  the  Lord's  Supper,  nor  the  serious 


ON   CONFIRMATION.  63 

responsibility  of  the  communicant,  to  a 
level  with  the  low  views  too  often  enter- 
tained as  to  the  proper  preparation  and 
responsibility  of  him  who  comes  to  be 
confirmed,  but  we  elevate  the  latter  to 
the  spiritual  rank  and  importance  of  the 
former. 

And  now,  my  dear  friends,  let  me 
intreat  you  to  make  very  serious  and 
solemn  work,  in  examining  your  hearts, 
to  ascertain  whether  you  possess  the 
qualifications  I  have  laid  before  you. 
The  step  you  contemplate  is  of  great 
importance.  Well  taken,  with  a  heart 
wholly  decided  to  be  on  the  Lord's  side, 
and  to  keep  a  plain  and  broad  demarca- 
tion between  you  and  all  wordly  con- 
formity, and  all  sin,  it  would  be  of  the 
greatest  benefit  in  your   whole  subse- 


64  BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

quent  course.  Searcli  your  hearts,  un- 
der the  eye  of  God,  praying  as  David 
did  :  "  Search  me,  0  God,  and  try  me, 
and  lead  me  in  the  way  everlasting." 

The  following  questions  will  assist 
you  (by  the  Lord's  blessing,)  in  deter- 
mining your  duty. 

1st.  Have  you  been  hrougltt  to  true  re- 
pentance 1 

In  order  to  answer  this  question  sat- 
isfactorily to  yourselves,  let  it  be  divid- 
ed into  the  following  particulars  : 

Do  you  see  yourself  to  be  so  sinful 
as  to  deserve  God's  wrath  and  condem- 
nation %  Do  you  see  that  your  sinful- 
ness lies  not  merely  in  particular  acts  of 
trangression,  but  chiefly  in  your  heart ; 
that  the  heart  is  the  fountain  of  sin,  so 
that  in  you  naturally  dwells  no   good 


ON    CONFIRMATION.  C5 

thiug  ?  Is  jour  heart  humbled  before 
God  on  account  of  your  sinfulness  ?  Do 
you  cordially  hate  it,  and  desire  to  be  de- 
livered from  all  sin  ?  Are  your  affec- 
tions set  upon  God  and  upon  holiness  ] 
Are  you  heartily  striving  to  be  more 
and  more  free  from  sin,  and  to  be  trans- 
formed more  and  more  into  the  mind 
of  Christ  and  conformity  to  his  will  ? 

2d.  Do  you  believe  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  1 

Consider  this  question  by  dividing  it 
into  the  following  : 

Have  you  been  brought  to  renounce 
all  reliance  on  your  own  works  and 
righteousness  for  acceptance  with  God  ? 
Do  you  place  any  reliance  for  mercy 
upon  your  reformation,  your  prayers, 
your  religious  efforts,  your  attention  to 


66  BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

religious  duties,  or  any  actions  or  feel- 
ings of  your  own  ?  Or  do  you  feel  that 
all  your  help  and  hope  are  to  be  sought 
in  Christ  ?  Have  you  fled  to  him  and 
committed  your  soul  to  him  as  all  your 
refuge  and  righteousness  ?  Do  you  feel 
that  he  is  precious  to  your  soul ;  and  do 
you  desire  and  determine  to  live  wholly 
unto  him? 

3rd.  Are  you  ivilling  and  resolved  to 
foUow  Christy  whatever  it  may  cost  you  7 

Are  you  prepared  to  give  up  all  vain 
amusements — all  sinful  conformity  to 
the  world  ;  whatever  is  opposed  to  the 
maintenance  of  a  spiritual  frame  of 
mind,  and  a  holy  walk  and  conversation? 

4th.  Are  you  resolved  to  endeavor 
conscientiously  to  perform  your  whole 
duty  to  God  and  your  fellow  creatures  1 
Is  it  your  solemn  determination  to  make 


ON   CONFIRMATION.  G7 

the  will  of  God,  as  revealed  in  his  word, 
the  rule  and  guide  of  your  spirit  and 
life,  all  your  days  ? 

5th.  Do  you  earnestly  desire  to  glo- 
rify God,  and  to  honor  his  service  by 
an  example  becoming  the  Gospel  '^  Do 
you  realize  the  great  responsibility  of 
that  public  profession  of  religion  which 
you  contemplate ;  and  will  it  be  your 
earnest  prayer  and  effort  to  live  con- 
sistently with  what  the  world  has  reason 
to  look  for  in  a  Christian  ? 

6th.  Do  you  lean  to  your  own  wis- 
dom or  strength  for  ability  to  live  as 
above  described  ?  Or  do  you  feel  that 
your  own  strength  is  perfect  weakness 
— that  your  sufficiency  is  only  of  God] 
Will  you  look  to  Him  for  all  your 
strength,  and  yet  strive  to  follow  Christ 


68  BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

in  tlie  diligent  use  of  all  means  of 
growth  in  grace  ? 

7th.  Do  you  find  habitual  pleasure 
and  profit  in  secret  prayer  and  in  read- 
ing the  Scriptures  ?  Do  you  heartily 
love  these  duties  ?  Do  you  feel  the 
absolute  necessity  of  their  frequent  and 
regular  observance  to  all  steadfastness 
in  your  religious  walk,  and  all  pros- 
perity in  your  soul  1  Will  you  make  it 
a  matter  of  conscientious  observance, 
daily  to  read  the  Scriptures  in  a  devout 
manner,  and  daily  to  wait  upon  God  in 
secret  and  earnest  prayer  ? 

If  you  are  able,  conscientiously  to 
answer  in  the  affirmative,  to  these 
questions,  you  may  trust  that  you  know 
by  experience  what  it  is  te  repent  and 
believe  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and 
may  lay  aside  all  hesitation  as  to  the 


ON    CONFIRMATION.  69 

propriety  of  your  coming  to  tlie  ordi- 
Dcance  in  prospect,  Indeed,  if  such  be 
your  state,  I  bid  you,  in  the  name  of 
the  Lord,  come.  You  can  sincerely 
profess,  and  consent  to,  all  that  is  in- 
volved in  such  an  act.  You  will  find 
it  to  be  a  grateful,  as  well  as  very  sol- 
emn, opportunity  of  confessing  Christ ; 
of  writing  anew  upon  your  hearts,  the 
vows  of  God  which  are  already  upon 
you,  and  of  seeking,  under  the  special 
prayer  of  the  Church,  as  well  as  by 
your  own  earnest  supplications,  the  con- 
firmation of  the  Spirit  of  God  to  seal 
you  "  unto  the  day  of  redemption."  Ap- 
proaching in  the  spirit  of  true  humility 
and  earnest  hungering  after  righteous- 
ness, you  may  hope  to  receive,  in  the 
laying  on  of  hands^  by  the  human  min- 
istry, that  blessing  which  no  hand  but 


70  .BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

that  of  "  the  Shepherd  and  Bishop  of 
souls,"  can  bestow,  even  "joy  and  peace 
in  believing."  Your  sense  of  responsi- 
bility, as  Christians  and  stewards  of  God, 
will  be  increased ;  your  faith,  as  weak  and 
unworthy  sinners,  leaning  upon  the 
strength  and  righteousness  of  Christ, 
will  be  invigorated ;  your  hope  of  the 
prize  of  your  high  calling  will  be  ren- 
dered more  effectual  to  enable  you  to 
run  with  patience  the  race  that  is  set 
before  you." 

But  here  it  is  important  to  remind 
ycu  that  in  examining  yourselves  by 
these  or  similar  questions,  it  is  the 
reality^  not  the  degree  of  attainment  in 
spiritual  things,  by  which  you  are  to 
judge  of  your  fitness  for  the  ordinance 
in  view.  Tender  consciences  are  not 
unfrequently  much  troubled  for  the  want 


ON    CONFIRMATION.  71 

of  this  distinction.  Because  they  easi- 
ly ascertain  that  they  are  very  far  from 
having  as  deep  a  repentance,  as  lively 
a  faith,  as  fervent  a  love,  and  as  com- 
plete an  obedience  as  they  ought  to 
have,  and  as  they  suppose  Christians 
generally  have  ;  they  fear  they  are  too 
far  beneath  the  ^vill  of  God  to  be  war- 
ranted in  coming  to  the  communion  of 
the  Lord's  Supper,  and  to  that  solemn 
ordinance  -^hich  is  introductory  there- 
to. But  vrho,  if  this  were  the  true  me- 
thod of  ascertaining  one's  jBtness,  would 
not  be  prevented  from  approaching? 
Who  counts  himself  to  have  a^rprchended 
that  for  uhicli  he  is  apprcJieiided  of 
Christ  Jesus  ?  Who  can  say  any  thing 
more  for  himself  than  that  having  set 
out  in  the  race,  he  is  j'^'^^sing  towards 


72  BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

the  mark  of  the  prize  of  his  high  calling 
of  God  in  Christ  Jesus.  Haring  truly 
repented,  and  believed,  and  loved  and 
obeyed,  but  haying  come  very  far  short 
in  all  things  of  that  degree  of  penitence 
and  faith  and  love  and  obedience  which 
he  ought  to  feel,  he  is  striving  for  more, 
and  endeavoring  daily  to  grow  in  grace. 
True  Christians  are  found  of  very  dif- 
ferent degrees  of  attainment  in  grace. 
But  their  privileges  as  Christians,  in  re- 
gard to  the  communion  of  the  Church, 
are  n'ot  different.  Though  some  are 
more  grown  than  others,  all  are  alive 
unto  Grod ;  and  therefore  all  are  par- 
takers of  the  hope  of  salvation  through 
Christ,  and  of  that  communion  of  his 
body  and  blood  by  which  the  true  hope 
is  strengthened  and  animated. 


ON   CONFIRMATION.  73 

Eiit  suppose  not,  my  friends,  that  I 
•^•ould  turn  your  attention  entirely 
away  from  the  degree  of  your  attain- 
ment in  grace,  and  from  all  comparison 
between  your  state  as  Christians  and 
the  holy  standard  by  which  we  are  com- 
manded to  direct  our  aim  and  estimate 
our  progress  This  you  must  indeed 
do  habitually,  constantly.  It  is  the 
way  by  which  to  see  your  unworthiness  ; 
to  grow  in  humility  and  true  repentance  ; 
to  realize  more  and  more  your  need  of 
the  atoning  blood  of  Christ,  and  to  feel 
the  exceeding  preciousness  of  a  Saviour, 
wIk)  is  mighty  to  save  to  the  uttermost. 
It  is  the  way  to  see  and  adore  the 
patience  and  loving  kindness  of  the 
]-iord ;  to  gather  food  for  continual 
thanksgiving   and   praise,   and   incite- 


74  BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

ments  to  daily  diligence  in  endeavoring 
to  rise  more  above  the  world,  obtain 
more  victory  over  the  sin  that  dwelleth 
in  you,  and  more  conformity  to  the  per- 
fect will  of  Q-od. 

But  the  question  noiv  is,  not  whether 
you  have  need  of  77iore  repentance  and 
faith  and  love  and  obedience  and  holi- 
ness ;  but  whether  you  have  any.  Not 
whether  you  have  advanced  to  a  certain 
measure  of  growth  in  the  divine  life, 
but  whether  you  have  been  born  into 
that  life  ;  not  how  far  you  have  attained 
towards  the  stature  of  men  in  Christ 
Jesus,  but  whether  you  have  attained  to 
the  condition  of  "  children  of  God  and 
of  the  light,  by  faith  in  Christ  Jesus." 
You  may  have  been  born  again  of  the 
Holy  Grhost,  and  so  have  begun  to  live 


ON   CONFIRMATION.  <0 

unto  God  and  to  be  his  "  clear  clnldren," 
and  yet  you  may  be  still  in  the  infancy 
of  grace;  having  all  the  features  of 
children  of  God,  the  heart,  the  mind, 
the  will — and  yet  all  in  infancy  ;  grow- 
ing; indeed,  but  not  grown  ;  becoming 
daily  more  established,  but  yet  very 
weak,  very  delicate,  and  peculiarly  de- 
pendant upon  all  the  means  of  grace. 
The  question  now  is.  Have  you  reason 
to  believe  that  you  have  been  born  of 
the  Spirit  and  are  children  of  God  ;  that 
you  have  -nnd  do  repent,  believe,  love, 
obey  and  follow  after  holiness  ?  Be 
exceedingly  honest  and  impartial  with 
yourselves  in  deterniiiiing  this  question. 
If  you  answer  "  yes  though  all  is  exceed- 
ing ueak  and  unworthy  ;"  Then  come. 
If  any  real  Christians  should  more  than 


76 


any  others  partake  in  ordinances  of  a 
sealing,  confirming  and  invigorating 
character,  surely  they  are  those  who  are 
most  in  the  beginning  of  grace. 

But  here  let  me  touch  upon  another 
point  of  much  interest  to  one  in  your 
circumstances.  Perhaps  the  thoughts 
of  your  hearts  are  sometimes  such  as 
the  following  :  Though  I  trust  I  have 
been  changed  in  heart,  and  made, 
through  divine  grace,  desirous  above 
all  things  of  living  for  Christ,  yet  I  am 
so  weak  ;  so  liable  to  be  led  astray  ;  to 
be  overcome  by  the  world,  and  to  lose 
all  spiritual  mindedness !  And  should 
I  make  a  profession  of  religion,  however 
sincerely,  and  then  fall  away,  and  live 
inconsistently  with  christian  duty,  what 
a  dreadful  thing  would -it  be  to  my  own 


ON   CONFIRMATION.  77 

soul,  aud  how  injurious  to  the  cause  of 
Christ !  Now  am  I  not  too  weak  to 
venture  upon  such  a  step,  when  such 
may  be  the  consequences  ?" 

The  answer  is — Must  we  confess 
Christ  before  men,  as  soon  as  we  are 
his,  or  at  some  indefinite  time  hereafter  ? 
Must  the  Christian  acknowledge  God 
in  all  his  ways  ;  the  ways  of  his  spiritual 
childhood  as  well  as  of  his  riper  years  5 
or  only  in  a  part  of  them,  uken  all  his 
ways  are  established  !  Does  the  Chris- 
tian walk  by  sight  and  sense,  only  going 
forward  in  duty  when  he  feels  that  he 
has  strength  within  himself  to  trust  in  : 
or  does  he  walk  by  faith  in  this  wilder- 
ness, not  expecting  ever  to  feel  strong 
in  himself,  but  to  find  strength  as  he 
needs  it,  "  in  tJie  Lord  and  i?i  tlie power 


78  BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

of  his  might ;  saying,  "  the  Lord  is  my 
Shepherd,  I  shall  not  want ;  "  the  life 
that  I  live  in  the  flesh,  I  live  by  the 
faith  of  the  Son  of  God,  who  loved  me 
and  gave  himself  for  me."  Were  you 
now  about  to  go  into  the  valley  and 
shadow  of  death,  and  to  enter  into 
conflict  with  "  the  last  enemy,"  would 
you  expect  to  feel  strength  in  your  own 
arm  to  bring  salvation  from  his  onset ; 
or  would  you  lean  exclusively  upon  the 
"  rod  and  staff","  of  Him  who  hath  pro- 
mised, "  I  will  never  leave  nor  forsake 
thee  "?"  But  if  you  will  have  to  meet 
even  death,  with  nothing  to  sustain  you, 
but  the  assurance,  "  Fear  not,  I  am 
with  thee  ;"  can  you  not  in  the  same 
strength  encounter  all  the  responsi- 
bilities of  a  Christian  profession  ? 


ON    CONFIRMATION.  79 

It  is  of  the  greatest  importance  that 
your  minds  be  clear  on  this  subject  of 
strength  and  sufficiency. 

Did  you  feel  else  than  entirely  weak 
and  insufficient  of  yourselves,  to  live  as 
becometh  the  gospel,  it  would  be  indeed 
a  discouraging  sign  as  to  your  prepara- 
tion for  the  ordinance  in  view.  Not  to 
feel  weak,  is  indeed  to  he  the  weakest 
of  all.  You  will  always  feel  weak  in 
yourselves,  just  in  proportion  as  you 
shall  grow  in  grace  and  become  "  stroig 
in  faith.'^^  The  christian's  might  is 
never  in  himself,  but  always  "  in  the 
Lord."  He  stands  fast,  in  proportion 
as  a  sense  of  his  own  helplessness  con- 
strains him  to  lean  upon  the  guidance 
and  support  and  protection  of  his  Re- 
deemer.    Then  does  he  say  of  a  truth, 


80  BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

"wlien  I  am  weak,  then  am  I  strong." 
The  more  he  feels  his  mfirmities,  the 
more  he  will  seek  help  of  God,  and  the 
more  will  "  the  power  of  Christ  rest 
upon  him." 

Now,  my  dear  friends,  if  you  ever 
get  rid  of  a  sense  of  weakness  and  en- 
tire insufficiency  for  these  things,  it  can 
only  be  by  getting  rid  of  the  knowledge 
of  yourselves,  and  of  a  belief  of  the 
words  of  him  who  said — "  without  me 
ye  can  do  nothing."  Your  own  weak- 
ness is  the  very  reason  why  the  means 
of  grace  have  been  appointed )  and 
among  them,  that  solemn  ordinance 
which  we  have  been  particularly  consid- 
erin^y. 

My  instruction  to  you  is  this.  If  you 
have  reason  to  hope  that  you  have  given 


ON    CONFIRMATION.  81 

yourselves  to  the  Lord  in  true  repent- 
ance and  fiiith,  then  you  must  embrace 
all  duty.  But  under  all  iluhj,  is  in- 
cluded the  public  confession  of  (^hrist, 
and  of  his  truth  and  service.  You 
might  as  well  stand  back  from  seeking 
the  salvation  of  your  soul,  because  3'ou 
have  no  strength,  as,  for  that  reason, 
to  hesitate  at  making  that  confession. 
You  have  as  much  ability  to  honor  a 
Christian  profession  in  all  things,  as 
you  have  to  do  its  duty  in  any  thing. 
You  have  in  yourselves  no  ability  now 
to  repent  and  believe,  any  more  than  to 
live  always  according  to  godliness  ;  but 
the  Lord  who  "  worketh  in  you  to  will 
and  to  do  according  to  his  good  plea- 
sure," and  whose  grace  is  sufficient  for 
you,  will  make  you  strong  for  the  one 


6 


82  BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

as  well  as  tlie  other.  You  must  believe 
in  Jesus,  not  only  for  pardon,  but  for 
strength  ;  not  only  to  be  made  at  last 
acceptable  to  God,  but  to  be  enabled 
now  to  keep  yourselves  "  unspotted  from 
the  world,"  not  only  to  give  you  the 
prize  of  victory  at  the  end,  but  to  sus- 
tain you  all  the  way  of  the  race.  He 
is  your  sword  and  shield*  as  well  as  righ- 
teousness; your  shepherd  as  well  as  your 
sacrifice.  You  must  believe  in  him  to 
supply  all  your  wants  ]  to  give  you  the 
bread  of  life  ;  to  defend  you  against  the 
fiery  serpent  of  the  wilderness  ;  to  re- 
fresh you  when  you  are  weary  ;  to  lead 
you  all  your  journey  through.  Thus 
have  the  Israel  of  God  always  been  sup- 
ported and  guided  and  saved.  By  faith 
they  set  out  from  the  house  of  bondage  ; 
by  faith,  they  passed  through  the  waters 


ON   CONFIRMATION.  83 

and  were  not  overflowed  ;  by  faith,  they 
walked  in  paths  which  they  knew  not  of 
and  lost  not  their  way  ;  by  faith,  they 
took  of  that  bread  and  drank  of  that 
rock  which  followed  them,  and  that 
bread  and  rock  was  Christ ;  by  faith, 
they  endured  every  trial  as  seeing  him 
who  is  invisible,  and  who  never  suffer- 
ed them  to  trust  his  grace  in  vain  ;  by 
faith,  they  lived  as  pilgrims  and  strang- 
ers on  the  earth,  and  looked  for  a  bet- 
ter country,  even  an  heavenly,  till  "a// 
died  in  faith,''^  finding  the  same  divid- 
ing of  the  waters  at  the  end  of  the 
way,  as  at  its  beginning,  and  never 
knowing  a  day  when  the  manna  did  not 
feed  them,  till  they  had  entered  "  the 
good  land"  and  did  "  eat  of  the  tree  of 
life  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the  Para- 


84  BISHOP  m'ilvaine 

dise  of  God."  And  my  friends  as  long 
as  faith  shall  lead  you  to  work  out  your 
own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling, 
not  in  reliance  upon  your  ivorldvg,  but 
upon  God  to  ivork  in  you,  to  will  and  to 
do  ;  so  long  will  Christ  be  "  made  unto 
youj  of  God,  wisdom,  and  righteousness 
and  sanctification  and  redemption.'" 

Now,  have  you  faith  to  obey  the  Lord, 
and  profess  his  cause  and  seal  your  vows 
to  his  service,  trusting  his  grace  to  be 
sufficient  for  you '? 

Perhaps  you  find  your  state  of  mind 
to  be  such  as  that  while  you  earnestly 
desire  to  feel  as  these  pages  indicate, 
you  are  in  great  doubt  whether  your 
views  and  feelings  answer  satisfactorily 
to  the  questions  proposed  for  your  self- 
examination.     Still,  do  not  at  once  re- 


ON    CONFIRMATION.  85 

linquish  the  idea  of  coming  to  this  ordi- 
nance. Carry  your  doubts  to  the  throne 
of  gtace.  Pray  earnestly  for  all  that 
you  feel  yourselves  to  need.  Diligence 
at  the  mercy-seat  may  remove  every 
hindrance  before  the  day  shall  ar- 
rive. Let  your  pastor  know  your 
doubts.  Be  free  to  communicate  with 
him  upon  the  subject  of  your  qualifica- 
tions. He  may  encourage,  where  you 
would  be  in  fear.  You  cannot  trespass 
upon  his  time  or  patience,  when  coming 
on  such  an  errand.  That  the  merciful- 
Lord  may  guide  your  self-examination ; 
that  he  may  guard  you  against  every 
spiritual  delusion,  every  unfounded 
hope,  and  all  false  confidence  :  that  he 
may  enable  you  to  approach  the  ordi- 
nance we  have  been  considering  with  an 


86        BISHOP  m'ilvaine,  etc. 

humble  and  contrite  heart ;  with  a  liv- 
ing faith  and  a  fervent  love  5  that  he 
may  meet  and  bless  you  with  the  con- 
firming influences  of  his  Holy  Spirit  to 
"  establish,  strengthen  and  settle  you" 
in  all  that  belongs  to  the  Christian  char- 
acter, so  that  you  may  be  sealed  unto 
the  day  of  redemption,  may  God,  of  his 
infinite  mercy,  grant,  through  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord  ;  Amen. 


THE    END. 


STEREOTYPED    BT 

S.  DOUGLAS  VVYETH,  Agt. 
No.  7  Poar  Street.  Philad'a. 


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